Digital cameras permit a user to obtain digital images that can be stored and manipulated on personal computers. The digital images can be loaded into the computer directly from a digital camera which has been connected to a computer. The images obtained from the digital camera can be used for on-line publishing, presentations and other applications related to digitally captured images.
Conventional photography does not permit a user to provide digital images to a computer without the aid of an additional device such as a film scanner, which is a dedicated device that tends to be expensive.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,201 discloses a film image input system which utilizes a film cartridge in which an image signal of each frame image is recorded on an EEPROM. However, this provides for an expensive and complicated system and cartridge structure since the image is stored on a chip which is provided on a cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,635 teaches a dual still video/film portrait system which utilizes a camera and a video imager. In this document, data pertaining to the film frame as well as a video frame number are recorded on a magnetic layer of the film and utilized for subsequent modifications. With the arrangement of U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,635, a complex camera and video imager arrangement is utilized in which two imaging paths with respect to a dual still video and a film portrait system are necessary.